Monday, October 31, 2011

“Mr. Tacopina and I were not able to work as a team,” Short said this morning at a news conference outside her Westport law office. “Our goals and approach were so different that one of us had to go. And that someone is me.”

She said she thought the parents’ legal team should be paying more attention to gathering support and information locally; Tacopina was more interested in national exposure of the case, she said.

Again and again, the name of Markus D. Lee has appeared in police reports as a suspect in Kansas City homicides.

But today Lee’s name appeared on the other side of the ledger — the 27-year-old was gunned down in Kansas City, Kan., over the weekend.

Lee, who had been released from a Missouri prison just two weeks ago, was found shot to death in the 1000 block of Ann Avenue near downtown Kansas City, Kan. Police said they were called to the area about 6 p.m. Sunday and discovered Lee’s body. No other details were released and police asked anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477 or the department’s major case unit at 913-573-6020.

Darrel W. Mohler, 74, died last week in Ocala, Fla. He faced two counts of rape in the case that broke November 2009 when younger relatives accused adult men in the extended family of sexually abusing them years earlier at a family farm in Lafayette County.

Darrel Mohler’s trial had been set for next May. The other defendants are his brother and the brother’s four sons.

A former lawyer for the Kansas City family of a missing baby says she will keep working to find the child.

Cyndy Short said in an emailed statement today that while she is no longer working as local counsel for the parents of the missing baby, Lisa Irwin, she and her team will "continue in the search for baby Lisa as concerned citizens."

Short says she plans to hold a press conference today. It's been nearly one month since Lisa was reported missing.

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As always, please follow our standard rules: Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. And when you sign your comments, please use only one nickname. If you need to reach me, please email jhart@kcstar.com. Thanks again, and have a great day!

John Arnold Arndt, 44, of Hayfield, Minn., is facing several felony charges including ongoing criminal conduct, first-degree theft, conspiracy, offenses related to animal production facilities, and misdemeanor possession or burglary tools for his role in the theft of the hogs.

A Lufkin, Texas, man was arrested after a fight involving a trash can, mailbox and garden hoe.

The fight started concerning an earlier burglary. When one of the suspects returned to confront the witness to the burglary, he tried attacking the witness with a trash can and a mailbox he pulled from the ground.

Welcome back to the Open Thread, our blog's space for off-topic comments and discussion. If you've seen an interesting story somewhere else, feel free to post a link below.

As always, please follow our standard rules: Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. And when you sign your comments, please use only one nickname. If you need to reach me, please email jhart@kcstar.com. Thanks again, and have a great day!

Police guarded newly-cleared plazas early Wednesday in Atlanta and Oakland, Calif., after clearing Occupy Wall Street protest camps in both cities. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested in swift crack-downs by riot squads after local authorities lost patience with the rallies.

An Occupy Oakland protester shouts after tearing down a fence outside city hall in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. The fence was meant to keep out protesters who had camped out for the past two weeks before police raided the plaza early Tuesday. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)